Page 63 - Christies March 14 2017 Tibetan Bronzes NYC

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A PINK SANDSTONE FIGURE OF
JINA PARSHAVANATHA

INDIA, RAJASTHAN, 8TH CENTURY
62 in. (157.5 cm.) high

$80,000-120,000

PROVENANCE

Acquired by 1999, New York.

EXHIBITED

Important Asian Art, International Asian Art Fair,
the Seventh Regiment Armory, New York, 24-29
March 2000

PUBLISHED

The Chinese Porcelain Company, Important Asian
Art, 2000, pp.46-49, fg.13

印度 拉賈斯坦邦 八世紀 粉色砂岩耆那巴溼伐
那陀像

This serene fgure represents Parshavanatha,
the 23rd tirthankara, the earliest Jain leader
for whom there is evidence of having been a
historical fgure (c.877-777 BC). He belongs to the
Digambara (sky-clad) sect of Jainism, with only
the serpent king Dharana to shield his body from
the elements. Several Jain texts describe a scene
when Parshavanatha was attacked by a demon
during meditation, Dharana covered the Jina with
his own coiled body and made a parasol from the
hood of his seven heads. The present sculpture is
a superbly executed example of this iconic fgure
of Jainism.

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